February 1, 2024 – PSFA Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes

Communications High School – PSFA Meeting

February 1, 2024

  1. President: Colleen Stemetzki, Co-President of PSFA, called the meeting to order at 7:01.  She welcomed the new principal of CHS, Ms. Emily Bonilla.  She introduced the officers and acknowledged that Melissa Skrocki was appointed as the Recording Secretary of the PSFA. 
  2.  NHS Report: Sharyn O’Keefe, NHS Advisor Report:  Mrs. O’Keefe presented on the following: 
    1. The National Honors Society (NHS) is organizing on a blood drive to be held on February 13.  Currently 23-24 juniors and seniors are signed up to donate.  They are asking parents to consider booking an appointment to make a blood donation at the school on 2/13.  Appointments are available from 8am -12:45pm.    Please email  sokeefe@ctemc.org to make an appointment.  
    2. Laura Widmer is parent of a junior at CHS and a teacher at Bio Technology High School. Laura is in need of a kidney donation due to Stage 4 Alport Syndrome.   Her best option for success is a live donor.  The PSFA is encouraging parents to consider registering for donation or to share her story on social media or by any other means.   Additional information is available in the February Communique and at: https://nkr.org/YJL933#supportcallouts 
    3. NHS is planning a fundraiser in the Spring for the National Kidney Registry along with an awareness campaign.    
  3. Grant Request: Wayne Woolley, Mass Media teacher at CHS, presented a request for a PSFA grant of $750 to fund 10 juniors, who are active in the Inkblot, to attend the Columbia Scholastic Press Association Conference.  Three students also presented: Lily Howard, Mackenzie Prince and Jordan Juliano.
    1. The PSFA grant request will offset costs for students to attend the Columbia Scholastic Press Association conference to be held on March 13 and 14.  This year CHS has been nominated to receive an award at the conference for its publication of the Inkblot.  The group will use NJ Transit to travel to NYC, stay overnight and attend the conference for two days.  The district will pay 1/3 of the cost.  The overall cost is approximately $4,000 including registration, lodging and transportation costs.   Additionally, each student will be responsible for approximately $300 plus food costs.   
    2. The PSFA took a vote of the members and a majority of the members present voted in favor of providing $750 to the group to offset the cost of attending the conference.  

 

  1. SGA Report: Sabrina Liding, SGA Vice President presented:  
    1. Thank you for the donation of new microwaves.  We are awaiting approval to use them and it should be coming soon. 
    2. SGA will be selling compatibility results in February as a fundraiser.   
    3. The SGA will be hosting the annual CHS Fashion Show.  It will be held at CHS on March 1.  The theme this year is “CHS in the City”.  Students, parents, families and friends are all welcome to purchase tickets and attend. 
    4. The Spring Fling Dance will be hosted on March 15 by the Freshmen Class with assistance of the SGA.   The Freshmen Class is creating a promo video to be released soon.  This new event will help the Freshmen Class earn money for their class account that is used for graduation events.  
    5. Spirit Week has been moved to March 18 -22.  The SGA is hoping that the PSFA will host a spirit wear sale the week before Spirit Week.  
  2. Parent Involvement Request: Janet Schneider, Co-President of PSFA, encouraged parents to get involved on committees, especially parents of younger students.   The PSFA funds and assists with so many special events for the students including the Color War, paying for graduation caps and gowns, providing grants for our students, covering transportation costs for clubs, etc.  The involvement and support of parents is critical to the PSFA’s mission. 
  3. Committee Reports: 
    1. MaryAnn Doyle, Treasurer: We received additional donations at the end of the year and also sold additional spirit wear for the holidays which raised money for the PSFA.  The PSFA paid for bagels for both days of finals this month.   
    2. Janelle Checkett & Patti Riddle, Gift Auction Co-Chairs:  The gift auction will be held on Saturday, April 13 at the Breakers Hotel in Spring Lake.  This is the biggest fundraiser of the year and they encourage all parents to attend and to bring guests.  The committee is looking for gift donations and will accept cash donations to be used to purchase gifts.  The wish list for donations is available at: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/SE8EZC9PHE8F?ref_=list_d_wl_lfu_nav_3 .  Parents are asked to consider pairing up with other families to buy a larger auction items.  The committee needs volunteers for local solicitations and will also need additional help preparing once we get closer to the event.  The event will also have a 50/50.  Anyone interested in helping can reach out to the co-chairs at: VPFundraising@chs-psfa.org .   
    3.  Brenda Connolly, Corresponding Secretary:  She will be sending thank you notes for any donations made to the PSFA. 
  4. Principal Report and Q&A: Emily Bonilla, CHS Principal,  made initial remarks and then opened the meeting for questions from parents. 
    1. She thanked the PSFA for the bagels for finals last week and is excited to work with parents.  
    2. Vision for CHS: During her time at CHS she would like to highlight that Communications High School is the only NJ high school that is purely devoted to the study of the communications technologies. Her vision is to make CHS is the premier institution for training in the communications industry.  
    3. Extra Help: The school will be offering extra help for math, ELA and social studies after school for the Spring semester to help students that need additional support. 
    4. Curriculum: She would like to add more AP and dual credit classes to the CHS curriculum, particularly Career and Training Education (CTE) classes.  80% of CHS staff members have a master degree and accordingly, will be qualified to teach dual-enrollment classes. 
    5. Student Transcripts: Ms. Bonilla is looking into how to modify the student transcripts to include class descriptions, which will allow colleges to have a better understanding of the CHS curriculum. 
    6. Industry Certifications and Software Licenses:  She would like to have our students certified for certain industry certifications such as certain software certifications.  She is hoping to expand software licenses so that students can access software programs at home and to also acquire additional laptops for the student lending program.
    7.  Instagram: Ms. Bonilla will be creating an Instagram account for CHS so that parents can see all of the amazing activities and accomplishments of our students.  
    8. SGA: She is very impressed that all of the student events are lead at the direction of the students at CHS.  She has met with the SGA regarding their events and will continue to support their efforts. 
    9. Mentorship:  Ms. Bonilla would like to explore how to make senior schedules more flexible to allow additional mentorship opportunities.   She would like to host a mentor dinner to obtain feedback from CHS mentors and expand the mentorship program.  One goal is to expand the program to allow for mentorship opportunities in other grades.  She will also explore how to leverage the CHS alumni network for mentorship and to also possibly provide alumni with networking opportunities.  
    10. MCVSD: A parent inquired about the MCVSB board meeting schedule.  Ms. Bonilla confirmed that it is available on their website and meetings are held in Freehold at their office.  For additional information, go to www.mcvsd.org 
    11. Food Services: She is aware that the food service provider is new to the school and they are still working through some challenges.  If there are any specific concerns about food services, feel free to reach out to Ms. Bonilla. 
    12. World Languages: A parent asked about whether the school would consider adding additional language courses.  Ms. Bonilla said this will be challenging because most specialty magnet schools only offer one foreign language study program to allow for additional classes in the specialty area of student (i.e communications classes at CHS).  
    13. Start Time:  A parent asked if there would be any consideration regarding changing the time for start of school.   Ms. Bonilla responded that this would be a decision by the district.   She said the early start is a benefit for our students who are involved in sports and those who are engaged in mentorships.  
    14. Trips:  A parent asked if the school would consider allowing for class trips.  Ms. Bonilla responded that CHS does not currently have a transportation budget, but she would like to add to the budget to allow for learning opportunities outside of the school in future budgets.  As of now, the school depends on PSFA to fund any transportation costs for student events.   
    15. Graduation Details:  The District has not announced the date of graduation.  The ceremony will be held at the school.  She is very aware of the need to get the date finalized, but they need to have some sense of whether additional days will needed to be added to the calendar for additional snow days.  Ms. Bonilla is hoping to avoid any date conflicts with any other MCVSD career academy graduation date.  
    16. Parent Meetings: Ms. Bonilla is available at ebonilla@ctemc.org  She welcomes parents to reach out to her and she will be happy to schedule a zoom or in-person meeting.   

 

Meeting Adjourned at 8:12 p.m.